Why Do We Sleep?

A symposium taking place until 10 a.m. and being led by chair Dr. Jerome Siegel is discussing answers to this intriguing question: “Does sleep have a universal vital function across individuals and species?”

The discussion is getting to the heart of theories about why we sleep and about possible functions of sleep. Siegel addressed the topic in the 2003 article “Why we sleep.” He writes that “we have no comparably straightforward explanation for sleep.” But sleep research has led to numerous “reasonable proposals.”

One of the symposium faculty, Dr. Chiara Cirelli, was the co-author of a recent essay on the subject entitled, “Is sleep essential?” They conclude that there is still no consensus for “the elusive phoenix of sleep.”

In April the Sleep Education Blog reported that a group from Spain has proposed a more controversial perspective. In “The trivial function of sleep,” they argue that “sleep does not provide additional advantages over simple rest.”